ZO. M. G.!

Firstly, Lehigh Valley is like, an hour and a half's drive. I was offered a ride, and I took it, and well, I was under the impression that it'd be just two gals in the car, but instead it was gal, gal's husband, gal's serbian friend who is great but who gets on my nerves, and oh yeah, boy who I dated for all of a week and then just kind of stopped talking to. Crowded car, not my choice of car-neighbors... awkward.



But we made it, and the B team bout was to start at 6pm. The travel team, bless their flaky hearts, abandoned us, and we hadn't elected a captain, so we were somewhat at loose ends. Punchy and I agreed we needed to be a team, so we all took to the track for a group warmup, and did a few little drills. Most importantly, imho, we skated a few laps as a pack, making sure we could touch three girls all the way around (this is how you make sure everyone's close enough together to constitute a pack.) I think that initial five minutes of talking to each other, skating together and connecting really helped us out.


Then the first jam started, and we skated ok. The Lehigh B team wasn't much better than us, but we fell behind pretty quickly. Then Lulu took a bad fall and got a concussion and got taken to the hospital. After that we pulled ourselves together and started really skating as a team - building walls, not letting their jammer through, getting our jammer through. I was particularly proud to skate while Hurrican Al skated her very first time as jammer (in her very first bout) and got through the pack twice, AND got lead jammer.

So we were trailing by 7 points, and then new awesome jammer Lixxie Stix jammed and we were leading by 3 points. Then in the very last jam, Lehigh Valley jammer Helen Darrink scored 6 points, and they won the game. I can't lie, it stung a little. We were so close! Overall it was awesome tho'.

However, that was just the first bout. After a 15 minute break we got ready for the GSR Travel Team vs. the Lehigh Valley Hissy Fits. Jenna V.F. jammed first, and well, she just wasn't giving it her all. Then her leg buckled and it became clear she wasn't going to be skating for the rest of the bout. This was a huge blow. We all rely on J.V.F. a lot, maybe too much, simply because the girl scores mad points. So that was bad.

The other problem was, we were not skating as a team. We were skating like individual skaters - there were no walls, there was no talking. This was not good. It sucked because I really think that despite beating us by 70 points or so, LVRG really aren't that great. Their hitting was particularly weak - more than a few times, I'd get hit and the girl hitting me would be the one to fall down. It was weird because they looked like they could hit - they were mostly big and tall. (Size: sometimes it doesn't matter.) Also, they built a pretty good wall, but when we built a wall behind their wall, it totall worked. Also also, when we booty blocked, they wouldn't be able to slow down, so they'd end up back-blocking us and getting minors. So all in all, we shouldn't have done as poorly as we did. We all skated hard tho' - I'm always in awe of Lady Vengeance, and Leggs jammed a bunch, getting pretty beat up in the process, and of course Chelsea B. and Lixxie and everyone else were amazing. Steel Magnolia also engineered some amazing jammer take-downs.

Then Steel Magnolia got decked and possibly broke her arm - the skater responsible acted illegally was ejected from the game. I will say that the reffing was extremely fair, probably the most consistent reffing of any bout, home or away, that we've skated. Anyway, we were down a bunch of skaters, losing, and some of us were tired from having skated in the first bout.

I have to say though, I didn't care. I felt amazing. I finally felt like I not only knew where I needed to be in the pack, but could get there in time. My hitting is still pretty weak, but I changed lanes and booty blocked and a couple of times booty blocked the jammer, keeping her back. I was also able to assist the jammer once or twice by being between her and the opposing blockers.

I also did my fair share of being useless - falling behind, trying to hit the opposing jammer and failing, not communicating with the pack. And I took some nasty spills. It always seemed to happen at the same point on the track, and every time I fell the audience over there responded with an impressive 'OOOOOoooh!' So at least I know me falling is entertaining. It's a really good feeling to get up after a fall and keep on skating, too.

So, you know, it was a messy good time. We went to the hospital to check on Lulu, and she was doing better, and then we hit the road for home. Today I'm sore, tired, very hungry, and not sure how I'm going to make it to practice tonight... but I'm definitely going!

Fishnets: check.

Green tank: check.

Green stripey socks: check.

Athleticy skirt: check.

Name'n'number patch: check.

Safety pins: check.

Water: check.

Sharpie: check.

Urge to check people: check.

IT BEGINS! 

(GSR vs. LVH 2nite! May the baddest asses win!)

Argh, the pain!

Something is up with my right calf. I woke up last night cuz I moved my right foot and suddenly there was a searing awful pain in my calf. I was all, wtf???

It's weird, cuz derby pain is usually on my left leg, what with you really only pick up your right leg and keep most of your weight on your left. And why the calf? This has never happened to me before. I am mystified.

Church

I went to church this morning - it's been a while since the last time I went. I'm glad I made it - it was a bit touch and go when I woke up this morning having consumed more than a couple o' beers last night. 

It's Forgiveness Sunday. You're supposed to forgive everyone, and the priest asks the congregation to forgive him. I kind of feel like my list o' people to forgive is much shorter than the list o' people I'd like forgiveness from. Anyway, it was a nice service, and the choir sang well. 

Afterwards I went to the Gap and bought a bunch of work pants and shirts. This was not the easiest thing ever - I dunno which girls Gap is designing for this year, but all of their button down shirts are cut in  a really weird way. Or maybe I'm cut in a really weird way... either way it took a long time to find stuff. I was on a mission tho', and I got it done.

I got lunch from Veggie Heaven. They have a fried tofu dish that I like, but I made the mistake of ordering the shu mai. Dear Veggie Heaven: STOP RUINING DUMPLINGS! A dumpling skin wrapped around brown rice IS NOT A GOOD DUMPLING. Lesson learned, no more dumplings from Veggie Heaven. 

The Hershey's Hierarchy, Continued.

I told someone about my controversial Hershey's mini-candy bar sorting policy, and when I told him the order of candies, he said that he would rank them in exactly the opposite order. I told him we could no longer be friends since we had such irreconcilable differences. He then said that I could look at it another way; that I should consider the fact that if he and I had to share a bag of mini-bars, we would each get what we wanted. I said that I would not in fact be happy that he would take the Special Darks and Milk Chocolates, leaving me the Mr. Good Bars and Krackels, but rather that I would feel slight contempt instead at his obvious poor taste.

This is a harsh and entirely true statement, and seems to sum up my immaturity as it applies to adult relationships. 

Candy: don't overthink it.

Hierarchy of Girl Scout Cookies

1. Samoas. ABC Smart Foods is now calling these 'Caramel DeLites' for some strange reason. The hell? They're not Lite. They're rich and fatty and sweet.

2. Thin Mints. Ah, such gritty deliciousness. Chocolate melting on your hands, highly crammable, easily eaten in front of soothing TV.

3. Tagalongs. These are fakeout cookies because they look kinda like thin mints... but they're not!  They're aight. I don't have much of a peanut butter obsession so I don't care about them much, but I put them as #3 because we always bought a box when I was a kid, for some reason. There's more peanut butter in a Tagalong than in any other peanut butter candy. You could probably scrape the peanut butter off a few Tagalongs and make yourself a decent pb'n'j sammich.

4. Allabouts. These are fairly new. The shortbread/chocolate coating makes them ideal for coffee-dippin'. The extensive printing on the cookie makes them ideal for propaganda. One can imagine other groups adopting the Allabout theme: "Pagans are Allabout moon-worship!" 

5. Trefoils. The boring standard. Bleh.

6. Dosidos. I like a sammich cookie as much as the next person, I guess.

7. Lemon Chalet Cremes. Highly suspect! Why do they not have a girl scout themed name? Do people really like lemon that much? Avoid! Avoid! 

New Old Stuff For Today

1 piccolo

1 tiny violin

1 regulation violin with a nice tone

1 bandolin

1 banjo

1 incomplete box of matchbox cars

1 knockoff Gibson

Perfect Attendance in March: Week 1

Week 1 is ovah! I went to practice on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. 

Today I am so sore. So very very sore. 

Hershey's Mini Assortment Hierarchy

1. Mr. Goodbar - is there any mini-chocolate more divine? The bright yellow wrapper is eyecatching as well. These go first.

2. Krackel - Pretty damn good. Again, the bright red wrapper makes it a fast sell.

3. Milk Chocolate - meh, it's aight. It's your basic standard ok chocolate.

4. Special Dark - pshh! The 'healthy' chocolate, seemingly marketed to the elderly. Look in the bottom of a mostly-empty assortment bowl for these guys, and then go find something else.

Ennui - I has it

Ennui in the state of New Jersey? Yes. 

So I moved this week, with much help from kind friends. My new apartment is weird and great. It's in a pre-war building (I'm not sure which war) and has an ornate lobby with marble walls and a chandelier. There's also an old-school elevator, which is neat. My room is much bigger than my old one, and it came pre-decorated with antique desks and lamps. 

Sleeping in the new place last night was ok - I kept waking up anxious about work. Work is quite anxiety-producing lately. I am trying to manage the anxiety by making lists and praying fervently. 

One major upset of the move is I'm no longer walking distance from the convenience store what has the good coffee. This morning I went to Starbucks, but I gots to find a new good coffee joint.